Overload
by elixile
Summary: Reeve x Scarlet: How Reeve's reactor designs changed the focus of Shinra - the backdrop to a degrading relationship. R&R always welcome!
1. Chapter 1

_AN: Having been reminded of the brilliance of the song Stylo by the Gorillaz (see that video, seriously) I finally got the song on my ipod. Realising it mentioned Mako in the lyrics, this story sort of span out from there. _

_I'm also on a bit of a Scareeve kick and this is in part thanks to Drakonlily ^^. Whilst this chapter is short and a bit abrupt, the story will develop, so please read on! Thanks._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Final Fantasy VII. _

* * *

**Love, electricity, shock wave central. **

Reeve, for all his pragmatic preparations, had not anticipated anything like this.

He had been a child with his head in the clouds - mercurially inclined and distantly connected to anything like real emotion - that his growth into a young man, with all those unfortunate accompanying hormonal developments, had somewhat electrified his system.

When he first met Scarlet however he swift realised, up to that point, all he had been experiencing was something merely akin to _mild static_.

The woman was smart, unafraid, engaging, passionate, and so very… (Reeve could hardly deny it when almost everybody else was saying something similar)… damnably pleasing to look at.

The air crackled between them during the lecture hall debates, the ones in which everyone else fell away into the background and all he could focus upon was the topic in hand or the way her blues eyes seemed to flicker with energy as she channelled every inch of her considerable intellect into countering his own.

His insides spark jumped treacherously every time they touched, the clumsy encounters, the seemingly careless brushes; those occasions that became so much more frequent and so very less easy to dismiss as accident alone.

When Scarlet finally, with an almost feral smile, leaned over the table to kiss him, the full shock of realisation pulsed straight to his core. At the time Reeve could have sworn the force of that entirely alien feeling... nigh on short-circuited his brain.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: A touch of ScarletxReeve fluffiness. I realise that is a bit of an oxymoron, but hey, this is before it all turns sour. Enjoy~_

* * *

**Power on the motherboard, yes. **

"You still working on that?"

The figure hunched over a drawing board glanced up at the familiar voice, spine quickly straightening at the feminine touch to his shoulder. Reeve grinned up at Scarlet as he answered; deep voice distant but agitated by excitement, as if really talking out-loud to himself "Oh, I'm getting there, Letty. The problem is the initial source. There's power on the motherboard, yes, but fossil fuels just don't seem to producing the level of output that I _know_ is theoretically possible, even taking into account the scaling effects."

Reeve snapped himself out of his thoughts and smiled at the blonde "I've... been considering alternatives."

He gave a warm chuckle and patted his lap but Scarlet merely folded her arms and remained standing "I'm sure you have. How long has it been since you last slept?" Reeve's smile dropped slightly in conviction, but the expression remained as he took a slender wrist and pulled Scarlet towards him, chair sinking closer to the floor with the additional weight.

"I've been sleeping enough." Though the dark shadows on his face told otherwise, he deftly changed the subject; fingers idly toying with the bottom of a blonde ponytail "So, what have I missed?"

Scarlet scowled, and then sighed, sliding one long leg over the chair so that she was straddling Reeve. She had tried to stay mad with him, honestly, yet had only been able to manage a mere matter of seconds before crumbling in the face of those deep, dark eyes peering up at her.

The blonde woman determined she would have steel herself up to at _least_ minutes the next time.

"A lot, as usual." Reeve hummed at the words neutrally, before the sound morphed to a series of softer noises due to additional movements made against him. The sounds he was making, plus the news she carried, made Scarlet's lips twitch up at the sides "I, on the other hand, have not. I met with the President yesterday. Apparently he was very impressed with the latest mech demonstration ...He's given me two weeks off to prepare myself. When we come back from our vacation, I will officially be the 'Director of Weapons Development'."

Reeve slipped his hands lower around her curves then stopped with a firm hold: an unspoken measure equalling between deliberation and desire. A brief moment passed before another enigmatic smile formed on his lips and he leaned up to claim her own, whispering into the warmth of her breath "Congratulations... You deserve it.

- Mhm, but wait." He pulled back from the tease of Scarlet's tongue and detached his lower lip from the ensuing nipping teeth. Frowning ever so slightly he questioned quickly, having cottoned on to the part of the sentence that had been easily deflected by the big reveal "_What_ vacation?"

Scarlet laughed gently.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: She's developing the Kya ha ha laugh. Oh yeah. Thanks to Drakonlily for inspiring this chapter. _

**

* * *

Push up, overload, legendary heavy glow**

"Of all the secluded places, Letty..." Reeve blinked against the snow glare coming from all directions and tried to focus on the chalet in front of them. From his estimation they were at least four clicks north-easterly from the town of Icicle and his toes were beginning to tingle. His student check would not cover new shoes until next month, and, as far as he could remember, his mother had never imparted any salient cobbling advice.

Scarlet brushed her hair back from her face, tone suddenly accusatory "What's the matter Reevey? Scared of being all the way out here with nothing else but me to occupy that overactive lump of matter between your ears?" He had, luckily, snapped himself from his shoe reverie enough to catch the glint in her eyes. The tone meant he had some making up to do, but at least it was not all that bad "Oh, you are plenty enough for this wee brain to handle, trust me." Reeve grinned, tapping the side of his head, before turning his attention back to the wooden shelter and wrinkling his nose slightly, flickering a barely there glance in Scarlet's direction to guage reaction "Does this place have electricity?"

Scarlet threw up her hands and rolled her eyes as she walked to the door. "Tch, I can't take you anywhere- Kyaaaa~! Ha haa haa!" A screech of surprise hiccupped into laughter as Reeve suddenly scooped her up into his arms and crunched in the snow, stumbling slightly as she squirmed against him. "Stop ... moving... Shiva, I... swear I'm going to drop you!" Despite his protestations, Scarlet kicked her legs into the air higher and clung even tighter with both arms around his neck "Are you calling me fat?" Receiving an eye roll of his own in return for her question, Reeve carried Scarlet over the threshold.

The evening drew down darkness that could only come in such a barren landscape. Reeve had lit the oil lamps, started a fire and his features were still a little pinkened from wood chopping in the snow. It had been hard to find a balance with clothing; warm enough to protect from the Northern blasts yet light enough not to constrict unduly after the considerable effort.

Just to get one fire burning.

His mind _itched_.

Scarlet was nowhere to be found. Reeve looked in the rusticated kitchen, the surprisingly luxurious bedroom, even the bathroom just to make sure, before walking back outside. Tracking to the back of the chalet he could see lights shifting in the darkness and followed the dance until he arrived at a stunning sight.

The snow thickened to dangerously beautiful black ice and dipped, melting into a pool of water; steam coated and illuminated vividly from the depths. Scarlet was submerged, full breasts pale upon the surface and every inch of moist skin glistening with the strange heavy glow pushing up from below.

"Hey." Her head leaned back, voice relaxed, practically narcotized "Who needs electricity when you can have this, right?" Reeve watched for a few moments silently, smiled, then practically beamed. "One moment..." Disappearing into the chalet he returned a few minutes later with a book and a pencil, settling on a rock to the side he began to etch details on the sheet as Scarlet smirked.

"Now. I know you're not romantic enough to be drawing me."


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Good grief. This is long. Much longer than anticipated! It took a while to pull this out, and I'm not very sure about it, so any thoughts about how it turned out would be much appreciated. Handwaving the smut, obviously cos of the rules, but also because it's already so looooong without me getting into writing that. Plus, a bit of mystery never hurts anyone, right? _

_This is dedicated to jadedsilk over at dA who really is a most amazing artist and who drew me a very beautiful Scarlet avec automaton butterfly ^_^_

_Next up – the end of the holiday, Old President Shinra and Reeve's parents! _

* * *

**Sunshine, thunder roll, keep this all together**

Scarlet soon realised she did not actually _know_ much about Reeve at all, despite them having been 'together' just under the year. Like the changeable weather outside, much about the man was contrary, seemingly without falsity or hidden agenda, yet as naturally potent as any heady mixture of sunbeams and snow-storms.

He was younger than her by a clear four years but held a crushing sense of responsibility and awareness that was oft difficult to witness. Then, quite suddenly and without warning, an impish, mischievous streak would appear; one which more befitted a child, but, somehow, remained frustratingly endearing.

When she finally plucked up the strength to tell him that her parents had died young, Reeve had fallen into a thoughtful silence, before blithely taking to giving her piggy-backs at every opportunity and even telling her stories in bed... (when they could've been doing something else entirely in her opinion)... all because she 'had never had the chance to experience such things before'.

During a snowball fight, his features had coloured like a schoolboy when she had challenged that there were certain items of her own clothes she could use to craft a decent enough catapult, only for him to replace that expression with a determined look and minutes later to have built up a sequence of snowy barricades - replete with an inanely cheery looking snowmog upon the top.

But it was not just this mixture of man and child that Scarlet had to wrap her head around in their first prolonged stay together: Reeve kept on disappearing.

During these phases he was no longer to be found anywhere in the vicinity of the chalet, unlike Scarlet and her first trip to the pool. Presumably, he left well before she awoke and usually returned a little while after she had arisen. He would acknowledge her briefly, as if he doing nothing wrong in the slightest, before quickly turning his attention back to a steadily stacking pile of papers.

The first two times the blonde had been unable to stay mad with him for more than a couple of minutes; all it took was to observe his brow-furrowed dedication, and the way his tongue stuck out at the corner of his mouth when he concentrated, for her huffs of displeasure to eventually give way to accepting sighs. But after the third, then a fourth time, both occasions having been given very little explanation as to why he had the gall to be working through the hours of their vacation no less...

Needless to say the nigh-on Executive was getting a little pissed off.

Tenth day in, and it was the fifth such occasion this had occurred. Scarlet stirred, then snarled a shrill sound much like an abandoned baby behemoth as she realised Reeve's side of the bed was again empty. Figuring the rest of the chalet to be empty as the damnable bed, she slipped out the back door towards the hot spring. She needed to bring a rising temper under control, and the ambient pool she knew would help to alleviate some of that irritation.

Arriving at the spring however Scarlet found the ground next to black ice had been excavated into, a pipe leading from the disturbed site ran towards a messily constructed ten foot cylindrical structure whilst several smaller tubes twisted their way back to the chalet. Bits and pieces of bolts, metal and wires were strewn everywhere.

Scarlet did not marvel at the hastily crafted feat of engineering before her; humming with life, surging with electricity converted from the stream though she did stop, momentarily, to think how upon Gaia Reeve had actually managed to construct all this without her waking.

The overriding feeling however, was of annoyance. It erupted within her as fiercely as the sudden hiss of silvery-green that spouted from the tip of the scaled-down reactor core, though, evidently, without any accompanying release of pressure.

Aggressively she stomped back to the chalet, not expecting to see the brown haired man inside. Yet there he was, working at the kitchen tabletop, singing a tune softly, "You are my sunshine… my only sunshine... you make me happy, when skies are- Oh-"

There was a loud clatter as something skittered onto the floor when Reeve realised he was no longer alone, body moving to block any further view of what he was working on. He looked faintly embarrassed. Scarlet wore an expression of the darkest thunder.

"I didn't know you were awa-"

"What the hell is all this, Tuesti?"

"What's what-"

"Two weeks, two weeks! Is it really too much to ask?"

Reeve looked somewhat taken aback, dark eyes widening and peering up at her. "What's the matter?"

But Scarlet would not be shaken. Not this time.

"What's the matter? I wake up, and you're not there. I talk to you, but you're not really listening. I dress up, I strip off yet _still_ you're not paying attention. Then I wake up today and find that stupid looking contraption where the hot spring used to be and now? I'm wondering why I'm even godsdamned bothering with you- an idiot savante with more brains than common sense!"

Dark hazel eyes returned to normal size before narrowing even more as Scarlet talked. Pursing his lips Reeve resisted his first impulse to explain the flaws behind the 'idiot savante' comment, resisted his second impulse to snap back, and eventually settled for a low, even response. He had not expected her to react that way at all.

Especially after nearly a year.

"I had to do a bit of research, and decided those times I woke up before you would be best. You always looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you." He stood up and scraped a hand through rather unkempt hair "I'm sorry. I had wanted to get this out of the way quicker but there were… some complications to work through."

That was perhaps an understatement. Keeping a _balanced_ view, there had been some differences regarding how best to utilise his new invention between him and Shinra Corp. But there was nothing he could do about that now. At least he had voiced his opinions. They knew the potential risks.

"You _had_ to? You're not even a proper employee yet!" Scarlet snorted, hand moving to a slim waist with her blue eyes mocking, "Are you even going to get paid?" Reeve sighed heavily, taking a step forwards. "Scarlet, this is important. Mako reactors will completely change the face of Shinra Corporation. Do you have any idea how this could alter the lives of millions of people across the whole of Gaia?"

"That's a no, then." Blue eyes glared but Reeve just looked back unflinching. He was busy mulling over the fact that Scarlet had completely missed how this could potentially affect her own future also in favour of concentrating on short-term financial gains; her normally quick intelligence dulled by a new-found materialism that, like her anger, seemed to have come out of nowhere fast.

Another step forwards and he shook his head "I'm going to be in charge of the installation process. When I've graduated I will be senior official in terms of maintaining the reactors, as well as head of planning for further reactor locations, should this succeed..." He reached out to touch her arm, barely brushing the crook of her elbow with a fingertip. Scarlet twitched sensitively to the touch and drew away.

Reeve in return clenched his fingers and dropped his hand to the side, voice cooling "It's going ahead, and it will succeed. I have no doubt I will be appropriately compensated." This was too much of a profit-making opportunity for Shinra for it not to succeed, after all. "For now," He gestured behind him, a faint disgust creeping into his tone "Veld bought over a bottle of champagne, if that's more to your _taste_."

He caught himself too late, and turned away only to hear Scarlet's surprise "Veld? The Turk Commander? What was he doing here?" Reeve tented his fingertips on the surface and bowed his head "Shinra is looking after it's new assets. Those blueprints can't fall into anybody else's hands."

"But why the _Chief_?" Reeve shrugged before answering Scarlet. "Veld and I have met previously. Perhaps he just wanted to congratulate me personally." There was a short laugh as he turned back, noting the anger had started to lessen into puzzlement upon Scarlet's features.

"...I was listening, you know."

"What?"

"You said I wasn't listening before. I figured you have a lot to prepare for and I didn't want to interrupt your time off with all this. It's a lot to keep together as it is."

"You're infuriating."

"Hn. Well, Champagne wasn't the only thing Veld brought over. I started this back in Junon." Reeve scooped up the item he had been working on and held it in his palm. With a brief tweak and a light blow, the automaton butterfly sitting there stirred and flew up into the air towards Scarlet. "I modified it this morning. The abdomen is a mako nacell. Perhaps... you can utilise similar in your mechs?"

Scarlet reached out on instinct, watching, mouth parted, as the dark blue machine fluttered to her fingers. Reeve cleared his throat and decided to focus on straightening the bunching material at the bottom of his jumper. He heard her cackle softly.

"You're a madman."

"I prefer cats, myself."

"Kya hah ha-"

Scarlet startled as Reeve closed the space between them and placed a kiss on the back of her neck, "You know, my attention has been unfairly diverted. Do you want to try this again?" She shivered and turned, exhaling sharply through her nostrils "Oh, so I'm second best am I?"

"_Letty_."

"Mm, I suppose I could forgive you, Mister-Mako-Man."

By her estimation it was at least six minutes before crumbling this time.

Shifting, Scarlet turned against Reeve, allowing herself to be picked up, settling onto the edge of the table then lying back and pulling him down with her. Hands slipped across her thighs to rest at her hips and a hint of teeth grazed at her right nipple through the nightshirt "Ow, shit!"

"Are you okay?" His body went to move off hers but Scarlet locked Reeve in with long legs, reaching back and pulling a screwdriver that she had been lying on from behind her. Laughing at his concern, she threw it to the floor as he muttered an explanation "Uh- I was in a rush..."

"I hope that's not an indicator of how you do things from now on."

Reeve smiled wickedly "Oh, no. I'm definitely going to take my time."


End file.
